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Hyde powers Boardman to district crown
By CODIE TALLEY
BOARDMAN
Boardman pitcher Gavin Hyde dominated in Tuesday’s district championship game against Poland.
Hyde struck out 12 Poland batters and limited his opponents to two hits in Boardman’s 8-2 victory in the 10-11 Little League district tournament at the Fields of Dreams.
At the plate, Hyde doubled and scored a run.
Hyde pitched all but the final out, due to hitting the 85 pitch limit of Little League Baseball.
Robert Hyde, Boardman’s head coach and Gavin’s father, was a little surprised by the amount of strikeouts.
“We definitely had a lot of strikeouts in the game,” Robert Hyde said. “The pitcher had a good outing tonight.”
In the bottom of the first inning with two outs, Boardman started a rally that blew the game open. Ryan Conti singled and Boardman scored on an overthrow. The next batter, Marty Stachowicz, doubled and drove in Conti to make it 2-1.
Zach Ganser’s triple drove in two runs to make it 4-1.
In the top of the third inning, Poland had a chance to make things interesting. Poland loaded the bases but only came away with one run, slicing Boardman’s advantage to 4-2.
Boardman’s stellar defense, according to Hyde, was the key.
“When the ball was in play, we made the plays that needed to be made,” he said.
In the bottom of the third, Boardman continued to build its lead. Ryan Kalmes singled and a throwing error allowed Landon Whippo to score.
Both teams traded good defensive innings until the bottom of the fifth inning when Boardman left no doubt on the scoreboard.
Hyde doubled and TJ Richey drove him in with a double of his own. With a runner on base, Conti blasted the ball over the center-field fence for a two-run homer for an 8-2 lead.
Conti’s blast brought the entire team out of the dugout to celebrate.
“Our bats were where they needed to be which allowed us to move some runners around and score some runs to get a nice win,” Hyde said. “I’m just really proud of the boys. They did a great job tonight.”
Poland coach Frank Elia also was proud of how his team played.
“The boys played a great game tonight, they really did,” Elia said.
He was also quick to give praise to the Boardman team and coaching staff.
“All congratulations go to Boardman — well-coached, great team.”
“Poland boys played their hearts and came a long way this year and next year, we’ll see if we can do better,” Elia said.
Boardman advances to the state tournament, which takes place in Cambridge from July 22-29.
Elia thinks Boardman will be an excellent representative for our area.
“I’m proud to see them go to state and they’ll do us proud for the area.”